Slice of a Season: Part 10 of 18

One Worth Remembering!

Slice of a Season: 2009, Slice 10
Slice Record: 9-0
Cumulative Record: 52-38
Standing at Slice's End: 6.5 games ahead of the Braves
Opponents that hurt the Phillies: NONE
Opponents that helped the Phillies: Reds, Pirates, Marlins, Cubs
Wins to Remember: Beating Pittsburgh 8-7 with a 5 run rally in the 9th, the day before the All-Star Break (Ryan Howard ties it with a 3run HR, Paul Bako hits the GW single),JA Happ shutting out the Marlins on July 19th
Losses to spill milk over: NONE
Bats do help in general: And they are potent: over .790 team OPS for the season, first in HRs and runs, there are very few complaints about the lineup
New Nemesis Alert:Garrett Jones
Phillies All-Star Report: Contributed to yet another NL loss, the only blemish of the slice...who needs home-field advantage anyway?
Welcome back from DL heaven: Scott Eyre, Clay Condrey
You have not earned a rose, go to Lehigh Valley: Tyler Walker
Team Domination: Jamie Moyer is now 13-2 in his career against Florida with a 2.83 ERA
The new K prince: Joe Blanton, now up to 7.8 K/9
Here's a random point: Raul Ibanez is diminished by no platoon advantage, showing a reverse split with 1.066 OPS against lefties, creating a false sense of security for those LOOGYs.
Welcome to the club of saves that should not be: Chad Durbin with a save in a 10-1 win
Who was that at a press conference?: That looked like Pedro Martinez to rehab back to the rotation, good move?
Hitting Heroes: Ryan Howard Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins
Need Adjustments: Jayson Werth, John Mayberry, Eric Bruntlett
Fire Starters on the Mound: Ryan Madson (against Florida), Brad Lidge (still hard to coax a perfect inning from him)...this is only quibbling this time.
Holding the Fort Down: J.A Happ, Joe Blanton , Scott Eyre, Rodrigo Lopez

9 games in a row! (Update: streak expanded to 10 as of this writing). The offense may have been fueling this streak, but it is the pitching which has really given it direction, with 6 of the games having given up less than 2 runs. This is what the team is like hitting on all cylinders, resilient, lively, and pretty bloody good. Also, kudos to Jimmy Rollins for raising his .OPS 35 points this stretch to an almost not terrible level. But seriously, he needs to get on base and score, there's a direct correlation between his success and team success. There's a tough stretch of schedule ahead (Cardinals, Giants), so let's not get too excited as the baseballs and the Roy Halladay rumors fly. Should they trade for Mr. Halladay? or not?